CHAPTER THIRTY EIGHT
( we are grounders )
OCT 10, 2149
DAY TWENTY EIGHT ON THE GROUND
TO BUILD A HOME
━━━ THE CINEMATIC
ORCHESTRA
" and i built a home for you,
for me. until it disappeared
from me, from you. "
"MURPHY!!" Fallon's furious shouts echoed as she jogged through the woods in search of the boy, chestnut irises blazing with enough anger to burn the whole forest down.
"MUR-"
"Fallon!"
She came to an immediate halt, spinning on her heel in the sea of dead leaves to face the boy; his bruised and cut-filled face smiling to her with oddly bright eyes for everything that had just concurred. He extended his arms out joyfully, as if he expected her to leap into them for a hug.
She didn't reciprocate the seemingly misplaced happiness, scowling and gritting her teeth in ire as she lunged forward and harshly shoved him; the boy stumbling and catching himself on a tree as he blinked in surprise.
"Okay, you can drop the front now." he chuckled uncertainly, features gradually falling.
"What front?!" she hissed.
His smile was completely gone now.
"You... you were pretending to be on their side to give me an upper hand... right? Pretending you cared if Dakota-"
Almost like it were instinct, Fallon found her fist- still massively swollen from the punch she had given Bellamy night before last- swinging hard and fast at the brunette. The boy's eyes bulged before he swiftly ducked out of the way; her hand meeting the tree instead, only adding to its injury. Pain ricocheted through her entire arm, the girl not even paying one lick of attention to it as she became more enraged; whirling around to face him in the new spot he stood. Now he looked legitimately worried, realizing there had never been any 'front.'
"I-I thought you were... you hate Bellamy!" he pointed out incredulously, brows knitted.
Fog came off their breath in the bitter cold of the winter's day, frigid rain starting to drizzle ever-so-slightly upon them through the sea of leaves above their heads.
"Yeah, I'm aware, Murphy. I don't give a damn about what you do to him or to Jasper. I told you to leave her alone and you didn't!" she yelled, the boy scoffing lightly and shaking his head.
"Fallon her mom killed your dad! Why are you willing to make amends with-"
"Actually, Dakota killed my dad, and my dad was an abusive asshole who beat me every day of my life, so really she was doing me a favor!" the Walsh girl fumed without taking any breaths in between, not having meant to have let the private information slip; energy shifting as it caused the rage in her to suddenly dwindle.
"Step-dad." she clarified after a moment, huffing a blonde whisp out of her eyes.
Murphy blinked at her with parted lips, stunned to silence as they stood in the quietude.
"I didn't know that." he spoke softly, the girl running a hand over her long locks with an annoyed sigh.
"No one does, but that's not the point, Murphy. The point is I told you not to hurt her and you did. You-"
She paused when she recognized he was no longer listening to her words, narrowing her eyes suspiciously at the reckless look swirling along with the obvious deep thought in his eyes; unable to read his odd expression. After a long moment of being frozen like this, he rushed towards her with urgency and purpose; Fallon jarring her head back in both displeasure and utter confusion as he clasped her hands in his. A sudden hope shone on his features, a pleading hope as his stare burned into her baffled one.
"Run away with me." he simply breathed, and though quiet, the words held a plethora of excitement and meaning and everything in between.
She gaped at him, utterly confounded by this; her brain struggling to process what he had actually just had the audacity to say.
"Are you dumb?!" was the girl's vexed response, yanking her hands away and pushing him aggressively backwards.
"All of this- camp, Dakota, war, banishment... it's too complicated." he carried on in a flurry of abrupt passion, seemingly blinded by some idealistic scheme he had just spontaneously dreamed up about riding off into the sunset with the hotheaded blonde.
"Come on, just-"
"Murphy-"
"I have my bag and we can just skip town and leave everything and everyone else behind. We can just-"
"Murphy!"
"They treat both of us like absolute crap, Fallon!" he boomed, reaching the climax of their back-and-forth arguing. She sighed loudly as a beat passed, her shoulders sagging; he wasn't lying.
"They hate you and me and that's not changing just because of your newfound obsession with Da-"
Fallon interrupted him by throwing a punch, and this time, she didn't miss. The boy yelped, squeezing his eyes shut and bringing a hand up to his instantly aching face; the girl taking it as an opportunity to kick his legs out from underneath him and send him crashing onto the ground. The wind was knocked from his lungs, face twisted in pain as he groaned; the girl marching over to him where he laid sprawled on his back, features smothered in ire.
His eyes fluttered back open in major discomfort and wariness as she stared down at him in rage, the intensity of her scowl the first thing he noticed as she stood towering over him.
"Never come back to this camp. And be thankful I'm not killing you for laying a finger on her." she seethed, her voice as vicious as it could possibly be.
Briefly, a look of genuine hurt appeared on his face; like those words coming from that girl had managed to actually deliver a pang to his miserable heart. But soon, rage was taking his features by storm.
She grunted when he unexpectedly brought his leg up, smashing the heel of his boot into her abdomen and sending her stumbling away from him; the boy soon hopping up onto his feet as she clutched her stomach with one hand. He stared at her one last time, resentment and bitterness having replaced the hopeful look in the set of shining eyes that had been warm seconds ago. They were cold now.
"Screw you, Fallon." he growled through gritted teeth, nearly foaming at the mouth with sourness.
"Back atcha, Johnny Boy." she panted with a scathing, sardonic salute.
Their fiery gazes remained locked onto one another a moment longer before he spun on his heel and took back off into the woods with a heart full of hatred.
She watched as he fled further into the forest, still catching her breath as her anger slowly evaporated. She knew that if everything that had recently happened with Dakota hadn't happened, her answer to his fervent inquiry quite possibly would've been yes. He was, after all, the only person who seemed to match her chaos; which is something that she had not forgotten- and tried to ignore- their entire time on earth.
A part of her wanted to chase after him as she viewed in unease, be a true outlaw. But soon she heard an indistinguishable shout from Miller back at camp, and she began jogging the opposite direction; wondering in the back of her head if that was the last she'd ever see of John Murphy.
༻✧༺
EVERYONE WAS RACING TO THE GATE AS IF IT HAD SOME SORT OF MAGNETIC PULL ON THEM, the sound of dozens of guns cocking echoing through the cold air as they were aimed in the ready at whatever came next.
"Bellamy! You're okay!" Fox let out a hefty breath of relief upon seeing him storm from the drop ship, having been among the crowd watching helplessly outside as he was trapped with Murphy. Speedily, she flung her arms around him; Bellamy's serious eyes remaining fixated on the gate as he swiftly hugged her back.
"Get behind me, Fox." he then demanded, gently nudging the 15 year old to a safer place; the girl blinking as her innocent and promptly worried eyes flickered between him and the gate.
"Wait! Hold your fire! It's Clarke and Finn, open the gate!" Miller commanded from his watch post, a group rapidly yanking open their gigantic port.
Dakota's breath caught in her throat at the news as her lips stretched into an untamable beam; amazement filling her promptly bright eyes. Sure enough, the pair came racing in, breathing heavily as their alert gazes scanned the camp; acute distress written across their faces.
"Hey! We heard an explosion, what happened?" Clarke panted in concern.
"Murphy happened." Bellamy answered gruffly, Dakota rushing to envelop Finn in an embrace as Jasper went to do the same to Clarke.
"Hey, Spacewalker." she laughed happily, the 17 year old obviously highly apprehensive over something, but hugging her back nonetheless.
"Hey, Kota." he pulled away with his hands still on her shoulders, eyes growing even wider when he caught sight of her arm; which looked absolutely awful and had yet to be put back into a sling since Murphy ripped her's off.
"What happened to you?"
"Befriended a snake." she smiled with a shrug.
"Thank God!" the Jordan boy sighed in utter relief, squeezing Clarke tightly before pulling away with an elated grin; keeping his hands on her biceps for a moment as he looked at her in radiating hope.
"Where have you been? Where's Monty?"
Clarke stared at him, lips parting as her eyes enlarged in sheer worry; evidently shocked by the disheartening news.
"Monty's gone?"
Dakota's features fell, exchanging an identical look of alarm with Jasper; Finn speaking seriously to the closely gathered crowd with greatly furrowed features before anyone else had the chance to.
"Clarke, we need to leave. Now. All of us do. There's an army of grounders unlike anything we've ever seen coming for us right now. We need to pack what we can and run."
"Like hell we do! We knew this was coming." Bellamy immediately objected.
"Bell, we're not prepared." Octavia pointed out consequentially.
"And they're not here yet! We still have time to get ready. Besides, where would we go? Where would we be safer than behind these walls?" he exclaimed desperately, voice wildly hoarse from the recent damage done to his throat; Dakota making a mental note to have Clarke check him later.
"There's an ocean to the east. People there will help us." Finn expressed, Octavia's eyes widening at his words.
"You saw Lincoln." she breathed, the Collins boy nodding to her with a quick 'yeah'.
Bellamy opened his mouth to shoot an angered deride about how ridiculous it would be to trust a grounder, but instead recalled on what he had told Dakota that day in the drop ship; about how if she trusted Lincoln, he did too. And so, he managed to painstakingly hold his tongue.
"This is our home now!" he shouted fervently, intense passion lacing each word as he turned to address the entire camp; the camp that had become family.
"We built this from nothing with our bare hands! Our dead are buried behind that wall, in this ground! Our ground! The grounders think they can take that away. They think because we came from the sky, we don't belong here. But they're yet to realize one very important fact. We're on the ground now, and that means we are grounders!"
Cheers and agreements rose vehemently from various spots among the large crowd, Bellamy's naturally puissant influence and captivating ability to lead gearing their souls up to fight.
The hundred were ready to battle.
Dakota was feeling a whirlwind of mixed emotions, honestly still just trying to rid her mind of the worry she felt over Monty and the image of someone she cared about so deeply hanging limp like a rag doll from a noose. But briefly, she felt pain and heartache that the people surrounding her had been forced to become warriors; had been forced to embrace a world of death. They were just kids. Kids who were ready to fight and die to defend their beloved homeland.
But the saddening thought was rather fleeting, for it was gone as quickly as it had come as she glanced in disquietude at the many weapons in their hands; a new realization dawning upon her.
They had stopped being kids the day the Ark sent them down here to die.
Childhood was gone, and wether they liked it or not, war had forced them to grow up in the blink of an eye.
"Grounders with guns!" Xavier exclaimed.
"Damn right!" Bellamy immediately agreed unyieldingly.
"I say let em' come!"
"Oh, don't tell me I missed another one of King Blake's mighty speeches." Fallon heaved jeeringly with overwhelming sarcasm, short of breath as she came running back inside camp; presumably having chased Murphy for a while.
"Bellamy's right." Clarke stepped forward as the Blake boy shot a glare at Fallon; who Dakota was quickly pulling away from the action, linking arms with the hotheaded blonde to contain her momentarily. She only harshly pushed the Thompson girl away, cursing aggressively at her before sighing and rolling her eyes.
"Sorry, it's in my blood to be mean to you." she mumbled, Dakota snickering lightly with a dismissing wave of her hand; it would likely take a while for Fallon to not hate her instinctively.
"If we leave, we may never find a place as safe as this! And God knows, in this world, we could be faced with something even worse tomorrow! But that doesn't change the simple fact that if we stay here, we will die tonight. So pack your things. Just take what you can carry. Now!"
Forlorn flashed across Bellamy's features as everyone obeyed Clarke, dispersing and gathering the essentials like they'd been ordered to; Dakota's brows pulled together in disconcert as everything unfolded rapidly. A part of her felt hopeful and excited at the idea of what lie east at the ocean. Another part of her felt horridly sad to leave this place she had grown to adore so much.
"Where is he?" Octavia inquired quietly as she stepped closer to Finn, talking of Lincoln; who she thought had already left. The brunette didn't respond, but merely handed her a remarkable sword he had been directed to give Octavia. The girl looked at it in reverie, taking it into her grasp and touching it as if it were the most precious thing she'd ever laid her eyes on.
"Clarke." Dakota subtly strode up to the blonde, ebony eyes taking on a sheen of perturbation; not even wanting to force the awful words out.
"What about Monty?" her voice came out quiet and feeble, already knowing what the answer inevitably was.
"If we go, he's not gonna have anything to come back to."
Jasper immediately joined her side, staring at Clarke with the same desperate eyes; sending a pang through the leader's chest. The girl opened her mouth, dreading telling them they couldn't spare the time and resources for him in the midst of their current circumstances. But before she could dash their hopes and dreams of rescuing their best friend, a weak, agonized cry entirely stole the group's attention.
"Help me!"
When Raven doddered into view, they all immediately saw what her hurt call of assistance had already alerted their brains to. Her features were scrunched in unbearable pain and great effort as she limped slowly toward them, relying heavily on the wall's support as she leaned her weight into it. Her ponytail was bedraggled, her numb feet barely able to drag herself towards her friends on her impotent and intermittent gate. They noticed all of this before their eyes traveled to her stomach, where one hand- painted red with blood- was clutching desperately onto her side that was helplessly spilling an unnerving amount of the crimson substance. They knew immediately what had happened; she had been shot. Shot by one of the many bullets she'd created.
"Raven!" Bellamy called in great worry, jogging over to the bleeding girl. The Walsh girl reached her faster than anyone else, quickly latching onto her arms to stable her on her feet.
"Murphy shot her." Jasper determined shakily, Dakota's eyes widening in frightful alarm.
Fallon's features darkened, any sense of conflict she had felt over him shattering instantly away into oblivion; now wishing she had killed him just now while she'd had the chance. A low growl of sheer ire came tumbling from her lips.
"He'll be lucky if the grounders take him out before I have the chance."
"Get her into the drop ship!" Clarke ordered with a pristine urgency in her pressing tone. Finn swept her off her feet unhesitatingly, Raven moaning in vast discomfort as he did so; still holding onto her abdomen as Fallon raced in alongside the pair.
"Clarke! Leaving here is a mistake." Bellamy direly grabbed her arm when she tried to advance inside with them.
"The decision's been made." she told him firmly, the light rain dampening their hair; definitely not helping with the already freezing weather.
"Crowds make bad decisions. Just ask Murphy. Leaders do what they think is right." he argued hoarsely, brows deeply knitted; Dakota wincing at the mention of his name.
As hard as she had tried not to, she was really beginning to strongly dislike John Murphy. He'd pressed her buttons one too many times, and now he was on her bad side; which she'd never actually had before today.
"I am." she nodded confidently after a tense beat, yet still trying to be gentle with her tone; briskly brushing past them and hurrying inside to help the wounded Reyes girl.
Dakota, Jasper, and Bellamy exchanged troubled looks, the dark-haired girl shifting uneasily on her feet as she struggled to fully process their extreme predicament. Still, one thing took charge of her mind above all else.
"What about Monty?" she questioned again, her voice cracking in desperation as woe filled her eyes; Jasper's bottom lip beginning to quiver.
"Dakota..." Bellamy whispered sadly, knowing there was nothing to be done at this point; titling his head at her in sympathy, and sharing the same look to the woebegone Jasper.
But the sorrow disappeared from her face after a brief moment of heartache, soon swallowing and shaking her head resolutely; features shifting into one of unrealistic and highly inordinate determination. She was slipping helplessly into what seemed like a steadfast denial of abandoning him.
"No." she spoke firmly, still shaking her head insistently.
"No, I'm not just gonna do nothing. It's my job to protect him, and that's what I'm gonna do."
"You can't stay here, if that's what you're suggesting." Bellamy tried to reason. But immediately after saying it, he saw the wheels spinning behind her adamant eyes and realized staying behind wasn't what she had in mind; she was formulating some kind of other plan.
She couldn't even glance their way until she had evidently come up with an idea; her abruptly hopeful gaze snapping over to them after a long moment of deep thought.
"We can leave him a message." she declared certainly.
"Tell him where we're going, how to get there."
"That'll just tell the grounders too. It defeats the entire purpose of leaving." Jasper muttered forlornly, though it didn't put a dent in her astounding faith at all.
"Then we'll make sure the grounders can't read it. We'll leave him something they can't understand."
"How could we leave him clear-cut directions that the grounders couldn't understand?" Bellamy questioned with knitted brows.
"Látreis ton fytón." Jasper breathed in realization, eyes widening as Dakota smiled brightly at him and snapped a finger in his direction; letting him know he'd successfully caught onto her plan. Bellamy was still utterly confused.
"What?" the boy shook his head.
"Látreis ton fytón. It's the name of the secret language the three of us came up with as kids. It's roughly translated as plant lovers in a derivative of Greek." Jasper explained, Bellamy quirking a brow at how nerdy the title they had given it was.
"It's one of the nine I know." she winked cheekily to the curly-haired Blake, soon quickly continuing on with her plan.
"We just carve directions into the drop ship or something, and the grounders will have no idea what it means. He'll be able to find us when he comes back!"
"Kody, you're a GENUIS!" Jasper laughed in sheer glee, hope refilling his heart as Dakota let out a happy shriek and an outpour of loud giggles when he wrapped his arms around her and hoisted her from the ground; twirling her through the air.
"Okay, okay. Calm down, Scooby and Shaggy." Bellamy huffed, grabbing Dakota's shoulder to lower her to the ground; pulling her away from Jasper's embrace and closer to himself.
"Actually I feel like I'd be Velma, but okay." the girl shrugged with a grin, confident Monty would be okay once again.
"If we're gonna do this, we should do it now." the leader nodded, quickly hopping aboard the plan.
"Aye aye, Cap. Operation save Monty Green is a go." she beamed with a salute, rapidly yanking the small knife from her waistband and dashing to the most unobstructed part of the drop ship with Jasper; ready to leave a last ditch message for her best friend.
༻✧༺
RAVEN'S AGONIZED SCREAMS ERUPTING FROM THE DROP SHIP HARROWED THE MINDS OF ALL THE delinquents outside. Half were frantically packing whatever they could carry, half still guarding from the top of their mighty wall; but all of them were wincing at her grating shrieks.
Dakota sat on the dirt with Jasper, features contorted in distress as she listened to her friend's suffering in dismay; his rifle laying beside them. The Jordan boy had ended up being the one to carve the message, because while Dakota maintained the best handwriting between them, she was also down a hand, and this job was far easier with two working ones. She was glancing about the camp yard from where she sat, eyes shining with a bittersweet sadness as she reminisced of all that had happened here. So many firsts and thrills and feelings of excitement like never before. Earth had welcomed them at this very spot. One thing stood out above the rest though, which felt to deserve a proper goodbye.
"Be right back, Jas." she patted the boy's shoulder, hopping to her feet with a soft grunt as he continued to chisel away in focus with the tiny blade.
"Hey, Miller!" she called up to the boy at the closest watch post as she neared one of the smaller, side gates; the teenager glancing at her over his shoulder.
"Yeah?" he answered back.
"Cover me for a minute?" she squinted at him against the sun, the boy sending her a thumbs up and raising his rifle to the area in which she was heading.
"Thanks!"
With that, she slipped easily out of the wall, only having to walk a mere few feet to reach her desired destination. Their cemetery. Hand crafted graves were lined in neat rows, the small clearing surrounded by ample greenery; surrounded by those vibrant colors that had yet to stop stealing Dakota's breath away since they'd landed on earth.
People didn't seem to visit this patch of land right outside the walls too often. Dakota tried to deliver flowers to the various tombstones when she remembered to, shriveled remnants of the bonny plants still cast gracefully against the packed dirt that the bodies rested right beneath from when she occasionally did. Each rock laid at the head of the departed was a marker of love, and a promise that they would not be forgotten.
But she found something beautiful as she reflected on those she knew and those she didn't that were buried where she gently knelt. They were the first of Skaikru in almost 100 years to be returned to Mother Nature upon their death. No other of their people got the privilege to say their bodies would one day decay and join the very soil that grew the stunning trees, and the pretty flowers, and the green grass. It was, in some way, a beautiful and moving spot to spend the rest of eternity. It no longer mattered how they had died- as many of these people had suffered before their demise- it only mattered now that they had become all the things that made earth worth living in.
"In peace may you leave the shore." she whispered benignly, fighting back the lump in her throat as she sent them a final farewell.
"In love may you find the next. Safe passage on your travels, until our final journey to the ground. May we meet again."
She sat with the graves in silence for a moment longer, paying respects before rising to her feet, brushing the dirt off her knees, and heading back inside.
By the time she made it back within the wall, Monty's message was completed and the hundred were ready to leave; taking their last looks at the camp that had kept them sheltered and safe. They filed out in tightly packed droves, guns-a-blazing; all of the unarmed in the middle as everyone with weapons encircled them for protection. They were moving as one.
Finn and another delinquent transported Raven on a stretcher, the boy exchanging a heavy look with Clarke upon exiting; both she and Dakota standing side by side at the gate to exchange words of strength with everyone leaving. Octavia, Jasper, and Miller led the way; armed and alert for any possible dangers lurking amongst the endless wood. The Thompson girl felt a nudge from the blonde, who directed her attention to Bellamy still standing in the camp yard; eyes looking pensively up at the drop ship as he stood by the last burning fire. They exchanged melancholy glances before walking back inside the walls and directly over to the curly-haired Blake.
"You did good here, Bellamy." Clarke nodded sincerely, words nothing but truthful.
Dakota sent him an empathetic smile, unable to hide the hints of sadness beneath it as she reached out and grabbed his hand in wordless support; the boy squeezing it back in rapport as he glanced crestfallenly around one last time.
"18 dead." was his only response.
"82 alive. You did good." his co-leader countered encouragingly, raising her brows at him. He considered this for a moment before nodding, clearly still upset and unconvinced.
"Hey, Clarke?" Dakota stepped forward when the blonde began to leave, turning back around at her name; her fingers wound around the straps of her pack.
"You did good too."
She flickered a halfhearted smile with a small nod, soon turning on her feet and exiting solemnly. Bellamy separated himself from the Thompson girl's hand to retrieve a large bucket of water and dump it onto the small campfire, the flames fizzling out with a loud hiss as an efflux of white smoke billowed up into the sky. With a heavy sigh, he turned on his heel and the pair started into the woods.
"This will always be our home." Dakota told him in a benevolent whisper as they strode out the gate, taking a final glimpse at a few of the spots closest to her heart.
The cemetery, the tent she had shared with her best friends for majority of their time here, her favorite pine just beyond the back wall, the fire pit Miller would usually sit at to tell his ridiculous ghost stories, and even the mighty drop ship itself; especially now that Fox had carved various drawings into its once boring metal. Her last two looks were at the watch post nearest to the large gate's right, where she and Bellamy had shared their first kiss; the other being the spot just outside the wall where she and Fallon Walsh had made amends.
The girl silently repeated the words in her mind.
This will always be our home.
A/N!
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AHHH IT HAS BEEN TOO LONG SINCE I UPDATED!! BUT FINALS ARE ALMOST OVER, AND MAYBE NOW I CAN ACTUALLY GET SOME WRITING DONE!!
This is so random, but since I am now obsessed with teen wolf & I know a lot of you guys are too, I have a question!
If Fallon & Kota lived in the TW universe, who would you ship them with (if anyone)? And who do you think would be best friends with them? OOOO AND WHO WOULD BE ENEMIES?!?!
I could easily see Isaac with Dakota, or possibly even Fallon, but for totally different reasons (and mostly with Dakota). I think him and Fallon could relate to one another in certain ways, but I think Issac would be incredibly drawn to Dakota's caring personality since he missed out on being nurtured his whole life. (My sweet bby boy🥺)
I could totally see Malia and Fallon being a thing, but also could you imagine FALLON AND THEO. LIKE THEM BEING TOGETHER WOULD BE HOT AND VIOLENT AND INSANE.
And as for friendships, stiles has a couple similar qualities (I think) as Monty and Jasper so I'd say him and Dakota could be good friends, and also her and Kira bc they're both rlly bubbly & socially awkward.
As for Fallon's friendships.... idrk lol. She doesn't really have friends in this story💀
AND FOR ENEMIES, I DO NOT THINK DAKOTA WOULD LIKE PETER AND ALSO I THINK FALLON AND LIAM WOULD BE AT EACH OTHER'S THROATS 24/7 BC THEY BOTH HAVE HARDCORE ANGER ISSUES AHHA.
HAVE A WONDERFUL DAY/NIGHT LOVE U ALL <333333333
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